Welcome to our first Scrolls newsletter - an end of the week recap on what’s happening on socials, with a keen eye on challenger brands. 100’s of weekly scrolling hours packed-down into one tasty newsletter-shaped treat 🤤

Mia Zelu rocks up at Wimbledon with an extra knee 🧐🤖

Rhode breaking into summer mode with a drop of lemontini 🍸🍋

Coldplay accidentally 'out' Astronomer CEO Andy Byron's affair

Tom Holland popping up in London to delivering an ace for Bero 🎾🍺

Barbie launching Type 1 Diabetes doll 💅

Minor Figures going illustrated DITL with @soniaillustrations

Lidl-by-Lidl steal the Berghaus x Oasis moment 🔵🟡🔴

McDonald's take interactive carousels next level 🍔🥒

Have you recently seen a creator or founder on TikTok in a cosy recording studio with a microphone dangling under their chin? They will look all accomplished and entrepreneurial as they talk to a host or interviewer slightly off-camera.

Well, it’s most probably fake.

Welcome to clip-farming. The (depressing) practise of pretending to have been on a podcast by talking to an empty room the other side of a microphone.

The intention is clip up that content into tasty soundbites for TikTok and paid ads, to give the impression of authority and status as our hero delivers nuggets of wisdom into the abyss.

Those insights will usually be controversial and provocative, as they are created to work as clickbait to drive impressions.

🤮

Why is it happening?

Podcasts are growing and becoming more popular. The format is therefore loved by the algorithms and with virality being chased often at any cost, they are keen to cash in on the engagement. Particularly if those involved come out it looking more credible and legit.

Every brand is chasing the next trending hook. The next format that stops the scroll. Particularly where paid spend is concerned, getting people on the hook is an obsession.

The danger with measuring success in such narrow terms is that creative shortcuts like clip-farming become too tempting to overlook - “if it works, that’s all that matters right?”.

Well, no.

⛔️ Why should it stop?

Podcasts promote legitimacy. Because podcasting straddles traditional and social media. They blur the lines between brand content and endorsement.

Those who use the tactic know that. The intention is to mislead viewers to gain that increase in authority.

It won’t age well. As people get wise to it, they’ll recognise that intention to mislead and the end result will be a drop in trust.

Clip-farming is a hack, it might deliver a short-term benefit - but brands have to be protected long-term. Best to play it straight now and not have a bad look down-the-line for creating something that intends to mislead.